As the daily reports were being brought to the Supreme Commander office. He was sitting at his desk; he was facing the huge pulse cannon proof glass that had been installed after the cowardly attack on our world. Croatia Major was recovering nicely and was beginning to get back to business as usual.

This window overlooked the gardens that were designed by the Supreme Commanders wife. She has a way of making the simple things look magnificent. Heather, he thought, a women with green eyes and curly hair (even thought she has experimented with strait hair, which he hated) a women that everyone loved and respected. Her beauty was far beyond words. But this is not why he loved her. It was the way she looked at him. He could see in her eyes every time she looked at him here love for him. Her beauty is only a small part of his wife, her mind; a woman with her intelligence could communicate with just about anyone. From our most brilliant engineers to the child that approached her on the street. It was amazing. She is a amazing, how he misses his wife when she travels. She is aboard the Grizzly class destroyer Duchess Justina, her personal ship, she was on a mission of great importance to the empire…

The commander lost in thought, he was brought back to reality by Jasmine, (the commanders assistant). Commander? He hears her and wishes she would just leave. Commander! Yes Jasmine, I can hear you. What do you need? Here are the daily reports. Place the data crystal on the desk I will get to them in a moment. Sir, General Dyson is here to see you. Jasmine, what does he need? He would not tell me. Jasmine, I find that hard to believe that you would not know what the man would want. Jasmine you have your ways of knowing all. Sir, I assure you he would not tell me. But I believe it is about the new Viper (Hades) Class battleships under construction. The Commander yells, “He better have good news that those battleships are ready to be deployed, or the General will find himself commanding a garbage transport in the farthest reaches of the galaxy!!” Show him in.

After dealing with the general the commander turns to the daily reports. He hates daily reports. He would rather be on the bridge his Flag Ship. The “Duke Anton Croatia” was in honor of his Great Grandfather, the founder and of this great nation. He remembers the stories of that his father told him about his grandfather. He was a brilliant engineer, a devoted family man, and most all an explorer. His grandfather wanted to do nothing more than explore space. He loved it. But the technology for deep space travel was limited on the planet he came from. A planet called Earth….

It was the earth year 2470; the planet was just now starting to recover from the global issues that taken 500 years to create. Anton a 33 year old, brilliant engineer had worked on some great projects in is young life. He had worked on Mars and on the Moon. He was now helping with the project that was trying to colonize of the moons of Jupiter. But it was his personal project, that he wanted to give most of his attention was on the back burner for now. He wanted to build a ship to explore deep space. He wanted to take his family away from all the problems of the planet he was now on.

Anton, sitting in his chair was working on a new engine design for ships that were being developed. He wanted to be working on his pet project that was taking a back seat to his work on the problems that had been plaguing the Mars colony. The engineers that developed the original blueprints for this colony failed to learn from the mistakes that have plagued it since construction started over 90 years ago. With these problems now fixed and the colony on Mars was up and running smoothly only after 100 years. He would now be able to get back to work on the project he really wanted to work on. The Ship, His ship, he would stop at nothing to complete it.

This ship project would be expensive; it would need massive amount of resources and funding. Anton would stop at nothing to get the funding. If it meant getting money from the military or the global government, He would do it. He would rather get the money from his business contacts, they were a long shot. The global government was trying to take over many of the larger business and make them state run. This trend started nearly 460 years before. When in what was then the United States started bailing out companies. It started with just bailing them out and when they could not pay back the money they government just took over the companies. This lead the US down the road to socialism, a once proud and strong nation was sold out by the very government sworn to protect them. The people in the US finally over threw the government and placed a true government of the people in power. This government is still in power but now is out of control again and is needs to be replaced. After 400 years of corruption the people now will have to fight a global war to rid themselves of a government that is into everything and wants to control all aspects of one’s life.

Anton did not like the government or the military. He really wanted to take his family away from all this crap. He wanted to take his family away from earth and all its problems He wanted to just build his ship and leave. This would be difficult. . He wanted to explore space. He was the man to do it. He thought.

Last edited by Michael Croatia on Thu Sep 27, 2012 9:47 am; edited 1 time in total

Anton was a family man. He wanted his children to be able to run and play without the aid of oxygen. The air on earth was so dirty everyone had to wear an oxygen mask. It was getting better but would take far longer that the experts would like to admit. His children were starting to grow and wanting them to be healthy; he contemplated taking them to Mars. It was now being terraformed and was starting to gain an atmosphere. It would be only a matter of years before you will be able to walk around on Mars without Oxygen. The experts say that it will take another 20 years for the atmosphere to get thick enough for that to happen. But they have been saying that for a hundred years.

After sometime the engine was ready for a test. The ship had been built and was also ready for the test. As the lead engineer Anton was on hand to test the new design of the engine. This new concept had been an upgrade to the engine he had first designed five or so years ago. The test had been scheduled for a year now and with so many delays by the military, it was a wonder that it was ready at all. The military wanted the same engine design for its new fleet of ships. They kept insisting that the engine be placed into a military vessel. Anton was not willing to do this because he other plans for the engine and the ship that it was in.

He and his family of nine went to the moon base for the test. Everyone that was anyone was there for the test. They all wanted to see this ship work. They were banking on the new design. Anton knew that he would never get access to ship after this test. He knew that if the test was successful the Military would confiscate the ship and all the new technology that was on it. The advancements that were built for this ship were incredible. It would allow for years of deep space exploration at speeds that were never before even imagined. This ship would allow them to cross the void of space between the galaxies at a rate that would take only months rather than centuries.

Anton was eager to get the project under way. He was able to get the financial backing for the project by allowing companies to share in the technology that was developed. The financial backing was enormous. With this control, Anton was able to handpick the engineers that would help him get control of the ship when the time was right. In this test, the ship would not be coming back. The people that helped developed the systems and build them were on the ship when the test was started. The government wanted military engineers to witness the test. This was a problem for Anton. He got together with the others. They would have to devise a plan to get the military off the ship. It would not be easy. As the designer of the engine, Anton devised a way to make the look like there was a problem with the engine. It would start in space dock and would have to be moved out of the space dock before it explodes. This would have to work. He needed the military off his ship. This ship was not funded by the military or the government for that matter. It was however built in a military space dock, which allowed them access to the ship and its systems. They wanted to know why this ship was being developed without their approval. This is what they used to gain access to the ship.

The test started. The systems started working normally and the engine was brought online. That is when the problems started. They had a leak of hydrogen gas the by-product of the engine combustion. This gas was to be captured and used and combined with oxygen to produce water. But, however the gas was being leaked overboard creating a hydrogen cloud, if it was exposed to a flame it would explode. The leak was getting worse and the ship was ordered to leave space dock. The people on board knew what was going on except the military personnel. They panicked and wanted off. They headed for the exits. When everyone was supposed to be off the ship it was to be remotely moved. But Anton ran back into the air lock and locked the hatch. Saying the systems was too damaged to remotely move the ship. He would do it manually. Tell my family I love them. (Even though he knew they were still on board the ship) He started engines and quickly move the ship out of the space dock. A cloud of hydrogen gas trailing the ship, as the ship move past the end of the space dock, it move faster and then stopped. The hydrogen cloud grew large enough to cover the ship. The ship could not be seen.

Inside the ship, the crew was busily getting ready to cause the explosions that destroy the ship. They were busily turning on systems and rerouting the hydrogen back to the holding tanks to be processed. This ship was large. It had to be a very large explosion to vaporize the ship. There had to be no doubt that it was destroyed. As the crew was working to depart, their families were settling in. they were putting things in order. It would be a long voyage and would take years to get to where they were going. Where was that? That was anyone’s guess. They only knew that they were free from the pain of war that had plagued their planet for generations.

Anton, on the bridge of the deep space ship, having rigged the bridge with pyrotechnics to make it look real when he tried to communicate with the space dock. Was working diligently to make sure everything went according to his plan. As the engines came on line they would ignite the hydrogen gas. The millisecond that it started the ship would have to jump to the fastest speed that it would go. This was to ensure that no one would see them leave. Only problem was that at the speed they would be traveling there would be no room for error. They had to make sure the path of travel was clear of objects. This would be a short trip if they hit anything.

Anton sent his final message, thanking the people of earth for the great way of life. He thanked the people who made his dream a reality. Even though they thought that he was going to die in the matter of seconds. With the final transmission, he hit button that sent them screaming out of the solar system. This speed was faster than anything that had previously been constructed. This ship would never have an equal. Anton made sure of that he took all the designs and destroyed the data bases that held all the information about how the engine worked.

The explosion that ensued from the hydrogen, was massive it actually could be seen by the people on the surface of the planet. Many people wondered what had happened. The official report said that the ship had exploded when the engines were started and they blamed everything on Anton Croatia, who died in the explosion. Only a few knew the truth. The ship was on its way to parts unknown and was traveling at a speed that had never been tried.

This ship was built by the finest engineers, it could handle the speed, but could it handle the speed for a long period of time. The ship could go 20 earth years on the fuel that it had on board. Food was grown in the on board gardens. Water was a plentiful. Hydrogen was a by-product of the engine combustion, when it was combined with the oxygen from the plants it would give them an endless supply of water. They had all they needed. Except a place to go.

Supreme Commander Michael Croatia was the latest commander that was from his family. His family has lead Croatia Major since the beginning. There had been problems in the past. There had been attacks by more powerful races of people and beings. His family had ruled Croatia Major for twenty thousand years now and would always rule here. Michael being a young man of only two thousand years old would be expected to rule this world for at least as long as his father a mere six thousand years. This being his 200th year of rule had still a long time of service to his people.

Michael was the oldest son of his father. He was not his father’s favorite that went to his brother. But the tradition was that the oldest son must Rule the Empire. Michael is a strong warrior. Trained in the ways of his ancestors, He knew his role. He knew that just wanting to be a father, husband and son would not be enough. He would have to rule and rule he would. He would expand the Empire and bring peace to his people.

Croatia Major was an interesting planet. It allowed those who live and breathed its clean and powerful air a very long life. Along with the healing properties of the volcanic pools around the planet, the people here lived very long lives. The effects of the planet were completely natural. The effects seemed to work even after you left the planets surface. The healing effects were discovered by the early settlers of Croatia Major. They found this planet quite by accident or was it. Being a man a Faith, Anton in his late 90’s when they arrived on this planet.